House
“The Housing Market”
I. Introduction
I don’t normally like to stay in series for more than 3 to 4 weeks. I certainly don’t like to interrupt a series because I know that that causes us to forget. However, I really feel like I have 2 more messages that we need to look at concerning the house that God is trying to erect and establish here and in us! So since there has been a 3 week interlude I want to take just a few moments and highlight where we have been in this vein.
God’s House is being built. We have a choice as to whether we want that house to be established here or somewhere else. God is not obligated to live in what He has not built. And we can guarantee that God will move in if we follow His plans. We can guarantee His presence here if we will follow His blueprints.
House Rules – This house must be established and built on the concept of Authority. #1 authority is God’s Word. #2 authority figure is our conscience. #3 authority figure is delegated authority. Until we understand authority and respond correctly to authority this house will lie vacant.
House Manners – We will not see God move in to this house until we begin to operate exclusively by house manners. These manners are the direct opposite of how we have been taught to act by our culture. We must learn to regard one another after the spirit rather than after the flesh. What if your destiny is wrapped up in someone you don’t like? We are to respect each other. That means we treat each other better than the world says we should. We resolve issues face to face. We don’t sweep them under the rug or avoid one another. The Bible gives a clear mandate as to how we deal with our brothers and sister. We restore each other or handle each other with grace knowing that the day will come when we too will need grace extended.
Model House – Recognize that we need more room and that present structure will not handle a habitation. Habitation requires firm foundation. No expansion if weak in Word, weak in worship, etc. A model house is furnished. Requires a bed – place of rest. Requires a table – place of communion. Requires a chair – place of trust. Requires a lamp – illumination of Word. His house must come first. A model house is a full house and at the moment it was furnished bareness was broken.
Parade of Homes – The parade of Homes must stop. We must find our assigned house. There will be times we don’t like the smell of God’s house, but must understand that we are safest when we are in our assigned house. Others may laugh at our house, but if we are in our assigned house we are connected with favor! We must build this house to bring attention to and keep focus on His name!
So that brings us up to speed. Today, I want to talk to you for just a few moments about the housing market.
We have all watched over the course of the last year or so while the recession has swept our country. We have watched the news reports of cities and even states that have endured a crash economically. After being historically secure and pretty stable one of the areas that this crash has had some of the greatest impact is in the housing market. In June, The Center for Responsible Lending estimated that there had already been 1,000,000 foreclosures filed in 2009. It also noted that the Mortgage Bankers Association’s data showed 12% of all mortgages were delinquent. It gets worse. The group expected the 2009 foreclosure number to more than double by the end of the year. Thankfully Oklahoma didn’t see this type of impact for the most part.
This morning what I want to suggest to you is that even though we didn’t recognize it before 2009 there had already been a housing market crash going on around us for at least 2 decades. We have been asleep through most it. I think we are just now waking up to the fact that something is wrong. And if we are not awake we had better wake up before the crash is a crash that we cannot recover from. You might say what are you talking about? To explain I need to take you to a housing market report that was given in the Old Testament. I want you to hear this this morning. What I am about to read to you sounds like a current, up-to-date report of the condition of the housing market all around us! If we are not careful and if we are not intentional about building something different we will fall into this condition. This report demands a response! This report demands that we live our lives differently to get different results. This report demands that we reprioritize our lives.
Hear the Housing Market Report for 2010!
TEXT: Haggai 1:2-11
2 “This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: The people are saying, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.’” 3 Then the LORD sent this message through the prophet Haggai: 4 “Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins? 5 This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! 6 You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes! 7 “This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! 8 Now go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honored, says the LORD. 9 You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses. 10 It’s because of you that the heavens withhold the dew and the earth produces no crops. 11 I have called for a drought on your fields and hills—a drought to wither the grain and grapes and olive trees and all your other crops, a drought to starve you and your livestock and to ruin everything you have worked so hard to get.”
Haggai begins his message by quoting a popular expression of the people, saying it was not time to build the temple. Though surrounded by the hostile opposition of their neighbors and the lack of economic prosperity, they keep doing what they have always done. They are so selfishly indifferent to the Lord that they keep devoting all of their time, energy and attention to keeping up with Jones and in so doing they survive pay check to pay check, become comfortable in famine, and bed down with drought and never stop once to consider why they are in the condition they are in. And the housing market crashed!
I came to tell you we are surrounded by hostile opposition. We are overcome with lack of economic prosperity. We are flooded with drought and we are feasting on famine and we had better wake up and recognize that we are in this condition because of our lack of attention and regard for the House of God!
Haggai painted a vivid picture of their economic and social distress that was the result and repercussions of the fact that they had left God out. When we leave God out of the equation of our lives He may still bless us with the stuff, but we won’t be able to enjoy it.
You’ll have a degree, but can’t find a job. You’ll get a raise, but still be broke. Buy a house but can’t afford to eat. You’ll get your child, but that child will wear you out.
See there are two things that are directly proportional to the place of priority that we give to the house of God in our lives. Our harvest and our level of satisfaction – the ability to sleep soundly if you will – the ability to find a stress free life rather than a turmoil-filled life is directly related to the place of priority the things of God have in your life.
“Is it then the right time for you to live in luxurious homes, when the Temple lies in ruins?”
Haggai points to a housing market crash and it devastated the people. God quits working with and for the people and begins to work against the people. I came to tell somebody that you better wake up God is working against you! You just think it is bad luck or a downturn. So you have been calling on God. Well pray all you want. Cry all you want. Claim promises all you want, but until you adjust and correct your priorities God is working against you! Think about that for a moment. That means no matter how bad your boss wants to favor you he can’t. No matter how many hours you work you never seem to get through. No matter how diligent you are there is no reward. Before you ever start or finish you are doomed! If God is for us who can be against us? But if God is against us who can be for us?
I keep hearing the housing market report around us - The people are saying, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.’”
We have bought a lie. We have just accepted the idea that you can’t rebuild the house of the Lord in this generation because everyone is too busy, too lazy, too apathetic, it has to be convenient, it can’t be more than 50 minutes, don’t take any more nights, you can’t have revival in this generation, you can’t find committed people in this day and age, you can’t expect loyalty from this generation and I declare the devil is a liar!
I need you to hear this:
Haggai 1:12-14
12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of God’s people began to obey the message from the LORD their God. When they heard the words of the prophet Haggai, whom the LORD their God had sent, the people feared the LORD. 13 Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, gave the people this message from the LORD: “I am with you, says the LORD!” (I am moving back in!)So the LORD sparked the enthusiasm of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the enthusiasm of Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the enthusiasm of the whole remnant of God’s people. They began to work on the house of their God, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies,
I am calling to the Zerubbabels and Jeshuas sitting in here. I am calling for some God fearing people to get up, wipe the sleep from your eyes, and shake off the apathy. Become enthusiastic again about the House of God. I am challenging you to make His House, His presence, Him a priority in your life again. Make Him more important than your job, your house, your vacation, your social status, your comfort, your clothes, and your love life. Elevate Him again! I am calling you to go out and find those who are tired of living in famine. Find those who are tired of the rat race and the lack of an encounter with God and let’s join forces and build His house!
Why? Because He is God. But also because it as we do so that He comes back and declares and promises:
Haggai 2:6-9
6 “For this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: In just a little while I will again shake the heavens and the earth, the oceans and the dry land. 7 I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will be brought to this Temple. I will fill this place with glory, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. 9 The future glory of this Temple will be greater than its past glory, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. And in this place I will bring peace. I, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”
It is when we adjust our lives that the housing market changes. Glory comes. Our service will be better – when you come with your priorities right! If the prioritied people will rise up we ain’t seen nothing yet! Provision comes! Right in the midst of famine favor can fall. Peace comes. In the midst of chaos, upheaval, and uncertainty we can be at rest! While others are arguing over carpet color, music styles and whether to reach out or not we can see this place packed from top to bottom and front to back with His glory. I want my life and this house to be full of His glory, peace, and provision!
Haggai 2:18-22
18 “Think about this eighteenth day of December, the day when the foundation of the LORD’s Temple was laid. Think carefully. 19 I am giving you a promise now while the seed is still in the barn. You have not yet harvested your grain, and your grapevines, fig trees, pomegranates, and olive trees have not yet produced their crops. But from this day onward I will bless you.” On that same day, December 18, the LORD sent this second message to Haggai: 21 “Tell Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, that I am about to shake the heavens and the earth. 22 I will overthrow royal thrones and destroy the power of foreign kingdoms. I will overturn their chariots and riders. The horses will fall, and their riders will kill each other.
The day the foundation for His House was secured their harvest changed. Before they had even planted harvest was promised! Guaranteed harvest! Before the first link in the chain was broken their bondage was dealt with, on the day the foundation was built, victory and deliverance was set into motion. Before the first punch was thrown or landed they found themselves in a fixed fight because of their right priorities! I want that kind of life!
If I would make God’s house #1 before anything else – before boyfriends, girlfriends, jobs, cars, social status, approval – the harvest and victory are a given!
So my question to you Christian people is this, “Are you killing yourself trying to live blessed? Are you seeking provision? Are you trying to secure your life? Are you fighting battles that seem like you can’t win? Are working without God?”
Matthew 16:26
26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Hear the housing report and respond! Either we change our priorities or our house will lie in ruins, and our provision will be wasted!
We need to repent. I am calling you to repent for paying so much attention to your own house that you have no regard or thought for His house! Our priorities are messed up and the result is that we find ourselves barren; our lives are meaningless and unblessed!
I believe that we have either forgotten or don’t really believe Matthew 6:33 anymore! Hear it again, believe it again!
Matthew 6:33
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
When we get the order right – the kingdom first – as His house flourishes our houses spring to life once again!
